New PARIS v5 Mega Board

[greggsy2000]

Hey guys, This is the new Paris Board from multiwiicopter. Its got some awesome features. Check it out.
http://www.multiwiicopter.com/products/ ... -autopilot

[EOSBandi]

Hey guys, This is the new Paris Board from multiwiicopter. Its got some awesome features. Check it out.
http://www.multiwiicopter.com/products/ ... -autopilot

Nothing awesome here... just a atmega2560 board with sensors and a minimOSD...
You can get the same mileage from HK about half price....

What I really laughed at : Plug-and-Play means you does not have to solder.....

[haydent]

one thing though is i believe the sensors and component/build quality in general is substantially higher than hk

[greggsy2000]

Why so negative towards a board that marrys all good options into one. The components/sensors used to make this board are far better quality than any Hobbyking gear. Half the price/half the performance. Have you flown a Paris board before?

I like the fact that you can buy this board and it has everything I want there ready to go. Minimal setup and mucking around around with separate components and additional sensors etc. Its been well designed and can't wait to get it in my copter to try it out.

Will post some results after I've flown it a bit.

[EOSBandi]

one thing though is i believe the sensors and component/build quality in general is substantially higher than hk

Well, I do believe it is manufactured in china too. From the same source of the components.

[EOSBandi]

Why so negative towards a board that marrys all good options into one. The components/sensors used to make this board are far better quality than any Hobbyking gear. Half the price/half the performance. Have you flown a Paris board before?

I like the fact that you can buy this board and it has everything I want there ready to go. Minimal setup and mucking around around with separate components and additional sensors etc. Its been well designed and can't wait to get it in my copter to try it out.

Will post some results after I've flown it a bit.

IF you happy with it, that is fine.
BUT :

As I see:
On the main board there are nothing what I would call high quality. Or revolutionary. Just the usual stuff that you can find on any atmega board, some parts are even worse.
Propertiary SMT connectors (you cannot crimp them at home).
No power supply on the board, which means that 75% of the users will power it up from one of their ESC, baaaad.
There is an USB UART on the board, but you have to own another one to program the OSD on the same board.
Still uses 2fet+4resistor voltage coupling between 3v3 and 5v i2c buses
Status led's on bottom of the pcb ?????
One 3v3 linear regulator with long power tracks to onboard sensors.
Board design looks like a lousy cut&paste, why using different sized resistors ?
No ISP ports, if you ruin your bootloader then you have to solder to chip pins
A0-A7 ports indeed broke out, but on some via sized pads, not solderable without fine soldering iron.
What the heck is a soldered cable which connects to the same board with a connector too ? I see the onboard osd connects
to the onboard FC via this cable....
OSD extra pins (Vbat etc.) are broke out, but spared the four holes and space for voltage divider resistors
The most common and cheapest gps module that can be bought on the chinese market.

Better sensors ?
MPU3050 is the same qyro that you can find in an MPU6050 (possibly MPU3050 chips are 6050-s with failed acc.)
BMA280 actually has only 14 bit resolution at +-2G instead of the 16bit resolution of the MPU6050
(just theoretical difference, since MW uses no more than 12bit useful data) other parameters are technically identical
Non shielded cables for sensor connection.

it is a typical product that tries to monetize the results of the OS community without any added value or effort.

The only positive thing what I see is a fancy box for the IMU and the MAG


What I would call a new design ? Well :

Onboard PSU for 5V (with Recom or equivalent bricks), solid filtering (common choke + large caps)
Separated 3v3 regulators per sensor, close to the sensor
Dedicated i2c voltage level converter (preferably close to the sensor) (Rule - do not route 3v3 i2c signals, convert to 5v asap)
Twisted and shielded sensor cables
common 50x50mm board size. OSD on separated board
Cheap STM32 based grahical OSD instead of legacy MAX based character osd.
Multi constellation (GPS+GLONASS) GPS with a 35x35mm patch antenna (NV-08C, IT600 or identical)
Mag and GPS on the same board. (you have to place them elevated and far from noise sources, so why two units ?)
Onboard DataFlash for logging. (or onboard autonomous data logger with microSD)
Onboard telemetry radio option.
and so on.....

[olfried]

Why is it bad to use power from ESC?
Is it because the Controller will not work if the Lipo fails or gets exhausted? Or is there something else?

[EOSBandi]

Why is it bad to use power from ESC?
Is it because the Controller will not work if the Lipo fails or gets exhausted? Or is there something else?

Power from the ESC is the noisiest amongst all other choices.

[haydent]

your suggestions are good, why do you not try and build it ?

[EOSBandi]

your suggestions are good, why do you not try and build it ?

I fly self made boards since the beginings. It is currently at the 5th generation, and I'm still not 100% satisfied.
Once it is done, I will see how could I share it. (Issue is to keep the price low and keep every function in.)

For example,
A good multi constellation gps module is around 50$ plus a good 35x35 antenna is another 25usd, add the cost of the pcb and the compass plus the manufacturing, and you are around 85usd just for the gps+compass module.

[EOSBandi]

your suggestions are good, why do you not try and build it ?

I fly self made boards since the beginings. It is currently at the 5th generation, and I'm still not 100% satisfied. Also have a working breadboard prototype of a nice graphical OSD on my desk.
Once it is done, I will see how could I share it. (Issue is to keep the price low and keep every function in.)

For example,
A good multi constellation gps module is around 50$ plus a good 35x35 antenna is another 25usd, add the cost of the pcb and the compass plus the manufacturing, and you are around 85usd just for the gps+compass module.

[haydent]

good on you, we're lucky to have your level of engadgment here i enjoy building my own arduino circuits too

there would be people happy to pay that knowing that it was quality and recommended, and others that would likely opt for compatible cheaper alternative which they would be able to do themselves.

[greggsy2000]

There is an update for the built in OSD just been released. It's got a lot of features. Will be keen to try it out this weekend.